Last Stand
by McQueriosity
Summary: Reworked Battle of Hogwarts, where it doesn't look good for the side of good. Oneshot unless demand for continuation becomes apparent.


**A/N I think disclaimers are a bit weird, this is a FANFICTION site, obviously nobody says they own the characters, but there seems to be lots of disclaimers for Harry Potter, so I guess they must need to be done. Oh well**

**Not Disclaimer- yes, I do own Harry Potter, all the characters, plot etc. And yes I am earning money from this story, somehow considering I put it on a free to read site. Go ahead JK, sue me.**

'Harry'!

That was Ron. What was he calling for? Help? Out of fear? Harry didn't know. Harry couldn't look anyway. Every fibre of his being was focused on avoiding death at the hands of the latest Death Eater to attack him. He dodged a vicious looking spell that left a black scorch mark on the wall behind him, the inhabitants of the nearby painting running to the relative safety of the neighbouring portrait, a pig faced wizard who was shouting encouragement to the few remaining defenders of Hogwarts.

The battle wasn't going well for the defenders. The Death Eaters had forced their way into the castle and were quickly overrunning the occupants. Voldemort had supposedly joined the battle, though Harry hadn't seen him. Harry hadn't seen a lot of people since Death Eaters forced their way inside. As the defenders were pushed back he had briefly seen Professor Sprout being overcome by three Death Eaters. She was the last teacher he saw alive.

Harry turned his thoughts back to the duel he himself was involved in. He couldn't recognise the Death Eater through his mask but he seemed to sense every spell Harry sent at him, managing to dodge or block them with enough ease to force Harry to give ground. Harry raised his arm to fire off a hex when the wall behind the Death Eater exploded in a cloud of rubble. The Death Eater was thrown against the opposing wall and Harry turned to see Ron preventing a door that was pretending to be a wall from closing.

'Harry come on!' Ron was shouting to Harry, who took off towards him and the door. He might have made it in time to escape too, but he saw Greyback on top of Colin Creevy. He stopped and tried to run to him, but Ron had come from the safety of the door to hold him back. He pulled Harry through the door and sealed it behind them. Harry took some time to look around him. Against one wall, breathing heavily was a battle scarred Luna; she smiled at Harry, apparently unconcerned about the current situation. Hermione was sitting on the floor. She had survived thus far unhurt, though when Harry looked closer he could see that her robes were torn in several places.

Harry looked at Ron, who was rapidly conjuring boards to barricade the door, and said

'Are we it?'

Ron turned to face him and Harry saw a large gash running across his face, his hair was caked in dried blood and stuck together over his forehead. He sighed and nodded. Then the door exploded.

Of course, the door didn't explode for no reason. The numerous blasting hexes broke through Ron's enchantments and barricades. Ron's tall frame blocked most of the splinters and hexes, saving the others from the brunt of the damage. He couldn't block them all though and Harry was spun to the ground as spells whistled past. Luna was thrown backwards into a wall and Hermione landed on top of her. Harry crawled towards Ron and began to pull him from his dangerous position at the foot of the broken door. Ron shook his head and tried to push Harry away, the first of the Death Eaters was trying to push their way into the room, only Ron's body was stopping him in his efforts.

Ron raised his wand at Harry and sent him flying down the corridor with a repulsion spell, then turned back to the Death Eater and disabled him. Then Fenrir Greyback, fresh from his victory over what used to be Colin Creevy, pounced through the empty frame onto Ron. As Ron wrestled against the Werewolf a cold voice yelled 'Sectumsempra!' followed by another. Hermione, halfway to the next door with the unconscious Luna fell to the floor. Luna's robes tore open and Harry saw deep cuts lacerate her exposed back. He reached out a hand in a vain attempt to help and felt a searing pain shoot up his wrist. He looked at his left hand; he was missing the two smallest fingers. Unaware of the pain before, Harry suddenly felt the full force of the pain, he yelled and clutched his hand to his chest. A Death Eater leapt over Ron and Greyback and began to run at Harry, his wand arm raising. A large force erupted from the seemingly lifeless form of Ron, impacting on the ceiling above Harry's head. Harry stood frozen underneath the falling Masonry while Greyback delivered a killing blow to Ron's neck, partially coating the Werewolf's face crimson. Harry heard the shout of a summoning spell and was jerked out of the way of the collapsing ceiling before it impacted on the floor, separating the hallway into two separate sections, Hermione, Luna and Harry on one side, the lifeless Ron on the other.

Hermione grabbed Harry by the arm and forced him through the door into the next room. He heard a cold voice cry 'Avada Kedava!' and Hermione tumbled into the room.

'Hermione!' Harry cried as he ran to her side, disregarding the shouts of the Death Eaters as they prepared to force their way through the door. He looked around, surprised to see the shining face of Moaning Myrtle. Then he saw that Hermione had directed him into the famous bathroom they had spent their second year brewing Polyjuice potion in, and later where he and Ron had ventured into the Chamber below to battle Riddle and the Basilisk.

Hermione opened her eyes and tried to smile at Harry, who felt light with relief that she was alive before that was crushed by Harry's remembrance that Ron was gone, as was Luna. Hermione pushed Harry aside and ran to the sinks on the far wall. Harry's body knew what she was looking for before his mind remembered and he walked towards her. She turned towards him triumphantly and said 'Harry! Open the Chamber; we'll be safe down there, only He knows that it's here. We can find a way to escape from there.'

Harry was about to comply when he fell to the floor, his scar sending waves of pain shooting through his head. 'He's here' he managed to grunt out.'

'How long do we have Harry? Harry! How long?' Hermione's voice was less panicked than he thought it would be.

'All the time in the world' he said, walking towards her and kissing her. It was hardly the time, but he could think of no other way to tell her that they had no time, Voldemort was outside the door at that moment, and in a moment it would all be over. Hermione understood though and kissed him back, making up for all the years since their first encounter on the Hogwarts Express. Though unspoken, Harry knew in that moment that she had always loved him how he loved her, and refused to let the severity of their situation, nor their lost years together, ruin their final moment. They were still kissing when the door broke open and a cold, high voice ended it all.

Harry opened his eyes to a familiar sight, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes looking down at him. For a fleeting moment he thought he was back in the hospital wing, that it had all been a dream. But when he looked around and sat up he saw he was at Platform nine and three quarters, the Hogwarts Express gleamed in the sun and there was no pain, no screams, no death or suffering. Only a feeling that, although they hadn't succeeded, it hadn't all been in vain. He knew his answer before Dumbledore asked him the question.

'Well Harry, I'm sorry that it turned out this way for you. I can't help but feel that I could have done more to help you through this. You can go back you know, Voldemort did more than he thought when he used your blood to come back. Or, you can come with is and board the train one last time. There are quite a few people eager to see you again at the other end.'

Harry looked at the train. He saw Ron's and Hermione's smiling faces, along with all the others who had died helping him defy Voldemort. And he knew, at the final stop, they would be waiting for him. He looked at Dumbledore and said;

'I'm ready to go.'


End file.
